


The One with the Undersecretary of State

by mcgarrygirl78



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-11
Updated: 2014-10-11
Packaged: 2018-02-20 17:27:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2436920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I'm a profiler, not a miracle worker.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	The One with the Undersecretary of State

“Stop staring at me that way.”

“What way?” Rossi asked.

“Like I'm a medium well Porterhouse steak.” Emily replied.

“I was thinking more of a smooth glass of bourbon after a long case.”

“Maybe an ice cold beer on a hot summer day.” Derek added. “You look damn good, Prentiss.”

“People tell me that I dress up well.” She said with a self-deprecating grin.

“You're beautiful all the time, Peaches.” Garcia said. “In Donna Karan, you're breathtaking.”

“Thanks, Penelope.”

Emily wore a red Donna Karan dress with a long bell sleeve down her left shoulder and arm and her right sleeve bare. The dress brushed past her knees; she wore red high heels. Her legs looked stunning…smooth enough to caress. Emily pulled her hair up, which highlighted her graceful neck. The red-stoned choker she chose did the same. There was little doubt that Emily Prentiss would be a big hit in the room full of suits tonight. 

The Association of Foreign Aid Workers would honor Ambassador Gregory Prentiss as their Man of the Half Century for his tireless work for diplomacy and good will all over the world. The entire Prentiss family would be in attendance to celebrate the honor including Emily’s 88 year old spitfire grandmother, Julia Prentiss. She was practically reclusive these days but it certainly wasn’t because she was frail.

“You're going to be a big hit at this party tonight.” The tech analyst said.

“Calling it a party is a bit of a stretch.”

“I couldn’t agree more.” A male voice made Emily turn around.

“Which part?” Emily asked, her smile making her whole aura glow.

“Both…wholeheartedly. Hello, Emily.”

“Hi.” She walked into his arms, accepting a tender kiss on the lips. “You don’t look so bad yourself, Mr. _Deputy_ Deputy.”

“Don’t call me that; I feel like Donna Moss.”

They both laughed as Rossi cleared his throat. Emily looked at them.

“Oh right. Let me make this as quick and painless as possible. James Thorsch, these are my teammates. They're like my second family. This is SSA Derek Morgan, SSA Jennifer Jareau, SSA David Rossi, Dr. Spencer Reid, Penelope Garcia, and SSA Aaron Hotchner.”

James shook hands, smiling jovially. He was a handsome man with a head full of thick salt and pepper curls. He looked good in a suit and on Emily’s arm.

“SSA Hotchner, I've heard much about you.”

“I'm sorry that I can't say the same.” Hotch replied, suddenly on guard.

“There is a growing contingent very impressed with your work in the Bureau. They say…”

“James,” Emily laughed, putting her hand on his chest. “Hotch hates politics, he is not a player, and we’re going to be late.”

“I'm sorry, love, you're right. Still, it was wonderful to meet you, Agent Hotchner. It was great to meet you all.”

“You as well.” Hotch mumbled, reeling from hearing this stranger call Emily ‘love’. He watched them walk to the elevator, James’ hand on her back, as the team said goodbye.

“He’s handsome,” Garcia said. “And definitely Emily’s type.”

“What type is that?” Hotch asked, coming out of his haze. He ignored the look Rossi gave him.

“We’re not supposed to profile each other, Sir.” JJ replied.

“Garcia isn’t officially a profiler. What's Emily’s type?”

“She is attracted to handsome older men of intelligence, usually in positions of authority, who are compassionate but aloof. These men clearly remind her of her father, who is not aloof to his daughter but in nearly every other aspect of life. It keeps him safe. These kinds of men don’t surrender easily and Emily’s had her heart broken. But you can't control who you fall in love with. We all have a type.”

“She has Prentiss dead to rights.” Rossi replied. “Have you ever considered becoming a profiler?”

“Let’s stop discussing Prentiss this way.” Hotch said. “It’s not right.”

“You asked.” Garcia replied.

“I know. Thank you for answering my question.”

Garcia and JJ headed to JJ’s office for a late dinner and paperwork. Reid said he was meeting a friend at the movies so he said goodnight as well. That left Hotch, Rossi, and Morgan leaning on the railing outside of Hotch’s office.

“Don’t say a word.” The Unit Chief said under his breath.

“There’s nothing to say.” Morgan replied.

“Exactly.” Hotch nodded.

“Except all you had to do was ask.” Rossi said. 

“And that she waited as long as she could.” Morgan added.

“That sounds like something to me.” Hotch said. “They looked good together…he is her type. If Garcia is to be believed, that is.”

“I find that she's rarely wrong.” Derek replied.

“If she's right,” Rossi said. “You're more her type.”

“I have a lot of work to do.” Hotch turned and walked into his office. He closed the door; Rossi and Morgan looked at each other.

“Does the man want to be alone forever?” Derek asked.

“Surely not.”

“Well he acts like it.”

“I know.” Rossi said. “You’ve known him for some time. You know how he is.”

“Yeah.” Morgan nodded. “I don’t understand it but I know it.”

“I’ll talk to him.”

“Good luck with that. I'm going to have some dinner with JJ and Garcia.”

“One day you're going to have to explain that to me.” Rossi said.

“You're a profiler…you figure it out.”

“I'm a profiler, not a miracle worker.”

Morgan grinned, thinking of saying something but deciding against it. He walked toward JJ’s office. Rossi went to his office, grabbed a bottle from his bottom drawer along with two glasses, and knocked on Hotch’s door.

“Come in.”

“Hey.”

“Don’t say a word, Dave.”

“I just came to offer a drink.” He closed the door, putting two glasses on the desk.

“Yes.” Hotch answered breathlessly.

Dave poured two glasses and sat across from his old friend. For a while they drank in companionable silence; it was a nice distraction from the paperwork.

“Do you know who James Thorsch is?” Rossi asked.

“No.”

“He’s the Director of the Foreign Service Institute. They prepare people for foreign service of all kinds.”

“Hence the Foreign Service Institute. Did you Google him?” Hotch asked.

“No, I've seen him around. Did you know that position is one of the Undersecretaries of State? Apparently, Gregory Prentiss brought him up, professionally.”

“So Emily is his prize.” Hotch muttered, drinking down the bile with his bourbon.

“What did you say?”

“Nothing.”

“She told you about it weeks ago, Aaron. All you had to do was ask.”

“I'm not going to talk about this. Emily looked perfectly content with the man on her arm tonight.”

“What was she supposed to do, turn up her nose? She…”

“Dave.” Hotch didn’t bother to hide his exasperated tone.

“You're unhappy,” Rossi replied. “You’ve been unhappy for a long time.”

“You're not my shrink.”

“No,” the veteran profiler shook his head. “But I'm your friend.”

“Thank you for the drink, Dave. If you don’t mind I’d like to finish it alone.”

“Sure.”

Dave stood up, taking the bottle and walking out of the office. He wasn’t ready for the truth; Dave was as tired of pushing as Hotch was of fighting.

***

Hotch looked up when he heard the knock on his door. It was after eleven o’ clock and he was still surrounded by paperwork.

“Come in.”

“Hey,” Emily walked into the office.

“Prentiss, what are you doing here?”

“I brought you some cake. Its triple chocolate with butter cream icing.”

“You…you came all the way back to bring me cake?” Hotch asked.

“Yeah,” Emily nodded. “And it’s not just any cake. It’s your favorite.”

“Thank you.” Hotch tore his eyes from her and went back to his work.

“I figured you'd still be here. Everyone else has gone home you know, even Garcia.”

They hadn’t even said goodnight. Perhaps Rossi told them that he wasn’t in the mood, which wasn’t quite true. It didn’t really matter anyway except that he and Prentiss were alone, and she had cake.

“Did you have a good time tonight?” Hotch asked. He looked up briefly, waving his hand toward the couch. Emily closed the door and sat. The cake plate went on the table.

“It was lovely. Daddy was honored, humbled; he hardly got through his speech. It’s not often that I see him flustered. He has dedicated his life, Hotch, to king and country. The award was well-deserved and I was really glad I could be there to see him receive it. As much of a royal pain in the ass as she is, I'm glad Grandmother Prentiss was there to see it.” Emily laughed some. “I'm also glad she’ll be returning to Philadelphia in the morning.”

“She must have been quite impressed that you're dating the Director of the Foreign Service Institute.” Hotch said, hating that he went there.

“Are you kidding me? Grandmother Prentiss is a firm believer in the Gentleman’s Agreement. She is old school in the worst way. Nothing James could do would ever impress her. How did you know…?”

“Rossi mentioned it. You're dating the Undersecretary of State.”

“There are currently about twenty Undersecretaries of State, and we’re not dating, Hotch. He just…”

“You don’t have to explain anything to me.” Hotch replied. “You're a beautiful woman; he’s an attractive, worldly man. I know the rest.”

“No,” Emily shook her head. “You don’t, but I guess it doesn’t matter anyway. Come and eat your cake; it’s heavenly.”

Nodding, Hotch affixed his signature to one more case budget and put the file on top of the others in his outbox. Then he joined Emily on the couch. Immediately, he went for the cake. It was better to stuff his mouth with dessert than his foot.

“Oh wow, this is delicious.” He smiled, sliding the fork out of his mouth. “Oh my God.”

“Wolfgang Puck catered the dinner. It could’ve been much more boring then it was…Daddy doesn’t do boring.”

“Your father is a fascinating man.”

“Funny, he thinks the same thing about you.” Emily replied.

“Though we've only met on three occasions, I am honored by the thought.”

“He’s an excellent judge of character. He always has been.”

“What does he think of James Thorsch?” The question tumbled out of his mouth before he could stop it. Apparently stuffing his face didn’t stop him from inserting his foot after all. Now that was fascinating.

“My parents were so happy we were all there tonight.” Emily replied, ignoring his question. “Julia is going to stay in town for a long weekend and Natalie got the family reservations on Saturday evening at Equinox.  Its Jules’ favorite restaurant in the city.”

“Is it?”

“Mmm hmm. Daddy was happy when I told him that even though you couldn’t make it tonight you would indeed be there on Saturday. He was quite sorry you weren't there tonight.”

“I…” Hotch swallowed the last of his cake. “Saturday night?”

“The reservations are for seven o’clock. I know you usually have Jack but perhaps you can get a babysitter for the evening. I know eight is his bedtime.”

“There is a service we use; I’ll call them tomorrow. I should've just asked you tonight, Emily.”

“James was happy to escort me.” She said.

“I just bet he was.” Hotch mumbled.

“You know it’s not like that, though I'm single so it could be.”

“Emily…”

She wanted to tell him that she only wanted to be with him but he already knew that. For nearly a year Emily had been looking for ways to get the upper hand on this “thing”, or at least get on even footing. Most of the time she had no idea which way is up when it came to Aaron Hotchner.

“Yes?”

“That cake was delicious. It made me crave coffee.”

“It’s too late for that.” she replied. “I'm going home to crawl into bed…it’s been a long day and night.”

“Well, I'm…”

“You're coming with me.”

Hotch nodded, standing and straightening up what needed to be straightened. He didn’t know why he couldn’t say what needed to be said. He didn’t know why she put up with him…he wouldn’t put up with him. He wouldn’t put up with indecision and lack of communication. Maybe Emily was better than him; too good for him.

“I would make a lousy boyfriend.” He said in a low tone as the elevator doors closed in front of them.

“God yes, you would.” Emily replied, laughing. “I'm not sixteen, Hotch, I don’t need a boyfriend.”

“What do you need?”

“You.” She glanced at him for a moment before staring straight ahead. “I don’t expect it to be easy or a picnic in the park. Nothing worth having is.”

“I don’t think I'm worth it.” Hotch mumbled.

“Luckily,” Emily said as they walked off the elevator. “It’s OK to be wrong once in a while.”

They signed out and walked to Hotch’s truck in the parking lot. As he held the door for Emily and helped her into the passenger seat, a grin crossed his face. She made James Thorsch drive her back to Quantico to be with him. Even if he wasn’t worth it that made him feel good. Climbing in and starting the engine, Hotch sighed when he heard Carly Simon singing _Love of My Life_. Emily loved Carly Simon.

“It’s a sign.” He said, driving out of the parking lot and toward Washington, DC.

“I didn’t think you believed in signs.” Emily said.

“I don’t, and I believe less in coincidences. You have to know how I feel about you, Emily.”

“I actually have no idea.”

“So I’ll tell you.” Hotch said.

“When do you plan on doing that?”

“What's today’s date?”

“August 21st.” Emily replied.

“August 29th then.”

“Should I hold you to it?” She asked.

“Absolutely.”

He looked at her, smiling. Emily couldn’t help but do the same. She reached over and took his hand. Eight days wasn’t too long…they had been dancing around for almost a year. One step forward and four back; Emily was well acquainted with the moves. Still, she had no intent of letting go, at least not right now. 

He was the one. He was worth fighting tooth and nail for. He was worth throwing the rule book into the fire. As soon as Hotch acknowledged it, nothing could stop how far they would go. That’s why he didn’t fight coming home with her tonight. Some things were beyond words. Aaron and Emily were beyond words, even if Hotch still worried about what to say to Prentiss.

***

                                                                                                                                     

  



End file.
